Lex Fenwick Out as CEO of Dow Jones

Less than two years after joining Dow Jones as CEO and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Lex Fenwick is leaving the company.

According to a statement from News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, the company is currently “reviewing the institutional strategy of Dow Jones.” Until a replacement for Fenwick is named, News Corp CCO William Lewis will act as Dow Jones’ interim CEO.

Before joining Dow Jones, Fenwick spent more than two decades at Bloomberg LP, where he started as a London-based sales employee in 1987 and was promoted to CEO in 2001 when Michael Bloomberg stepped down to focus on his mayoral campaign. As a top exec at Bloomberg, Fenwick reportedly had numerous disputes with other staffers (some of whom were said to have left the company because of him) and was accused, along with several other executives, of discriminating against pregnant women. (The suit was later thrown out.) By 2008, he had been named CEO of Bloomberg Ventures, a unit he founded.

Fenwick left Bloomberg to assume the CEO position at Dow Jones in early 2012 following predecessor Les Hinton’s resignation amid the News International hacking scandal. Fenwick apparently brought with him his trademark combative management style: In a 2012 Reuters profile, News Corp. employees recounted hearing an “erratic” Fenwick “yelling profanities and shouting at underlings” in the office.

While at Dow Jones, Fenwick oversaw the development of DJX, the company’s still-in-beta information service (and would-be Bloomberg wire competitor). Earlier this year, Quartz described the product as “underwhelming,” adding that it had “received a lukewarm response” on Wall Street.

Less than two years after joining Dow Jones as CEO and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Lex Fenwick is leaving the company.

According to a statement from News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, the company is currently “reviewing the institutional strategy of Dow Jones.” Until a replacement for Fenwick is named, News Corp CCO William Lewis will act as Dow Jones’ interim CEO.

Before joining Dow Jones, Fenwick spent more than two decades at Bloomberg LP, where he started as a London-based sales employee in 1987 and was promoted to CEO in 2001 when Michael Bloomberg stepped down to focus on his mayoral campaign. As a top exec at Bloomberg, Fenwick reportedly had numerous disputes with other staffers (some of whom were said to have left the company because of him) and was accused, along with several other executives, of discriminating against pregnant women. (The suit was later thrown out.) By 2008, he had been named CEO of Bloomberg Ventures, a unit he founded.

Fenwick left Bloomberg to assume the CEO position at Dow Jones in early 2012 following predecessor Les Hinton’s resignation amid the News International hacking scandal. Fenwick apparently brought with him his trademark combative management style: In a 2012 Reuters profile, News Corp. employees recounted hearing an “erratic” Fenwick “yelling profanities and shouting at underlings” in the office.

While at Dow Jones, Fenwick oversaw the development of DJX, the company’s still-in-beta information service (and would-be Bloomberg wire competitor). Earlier this year, Quartz described the product as “underwhelming,” adding that it had “received a lukewarm response” on Wall Street.